My Favorite Guinea Pig Items and Training Equipment
On this page, you'll find a list of all my favorite agility equipment and other items I like to use for training my guinea pigs. Below that is another list with all of my favorite and most useful items for guinea pigs, as well as a selection of my guinea pigs' top favorite treats and toys.
My Favorite Training Items
Tunnels!
My favorite types of tunnels for training are extendable and collapsible play tunnels made for guinea pigs and small rabbits. I have a couple of the large size Ware Manufacturing brand fun tunnels for my guinea pigs and rabbits. You can also find other brands of similar tunnels, such as the NiteAngel Fun Tunnel.
These tunnels are perfect for training because the length is adjustable. When your guinea pig is just learning to go through a tunnel, you can keep the length super short until they gain more confidence. Then you can make the tunnel longer as they learn, and even bend and twist the tunnel in different directions for more variety. This is fun for creating obstacle or agility courses for your guinea pig too. You can use straight tunnels in your course or curve them in a semi-circle or U-shape just like in dog agility courses.
These tunnels are perfect for training because the length is adjustable. When your guinea pig is just learning to go through a tunnel, you can keep the length super short until they gain more confidence. Then you can make the tunnel longer as they learn, and even bend and twist the tunnel in different directions for more variety. This is fun for creating obstacle or agility courses for your guinea pig too. You can use straight tunnels in your course or curve them in a semi-circle or U-shape just like in dog agility courses.
Slotted Balls
Slotted balls are another common item I use for teaching various tricks, such as basketball and fetch. These slotted balls are made by Ethical Pets on Amazon. I find that these balls are the perfect size for training guinea pigs, and they're also super easy for the guinea pigs to pick up and carry. Since these balls are cat toys, they come with little bells inside. However, I find that the bells are pretty easy to remove because the slotted balls have a bit of flexibility to them.
Target Sticks
Admittedly, I don't tend to use target sticks too much for teaching other types of behaviors like jumps and tunnels, but I still like to teach my guinea pigs to touch and follow a target stick. Following a target stick is still an easy and fun confidence building trick that most guinea pigs pick up on quite quickly and enjoy doing. Most target sticks you can buy are larger and geared towards dogs, so I would recommend you make your own guinea pig sized target stick. Target sticks are pretty simple and cheap to make, and only require a couple of materials. You can find a tutorial for this on the DIY Target Stick page.
Agility Hoop Jump
This is not an item you can buy, however I have a tutorial on how to make one on the DIY Guinea Pig Agility Hoop Jump page. This is one of my favorite DIY items for guinea pigs. These hoops are super cute to use in an agility course, or just as a stand alone trick. You can also attach a piece of paper to the top of the hoop and teach your guinea pig to jump through a "blind hoop." Plus, since it's a DIY project, you can make the hoop any color, and decorate it however you like. I like to put feathers on the top of the hoop for extra flair. :P
Exercise Pens
Exercise pens are one of my favorite items to use for training guinea pigs. There are lots of different types to choose from, but I prefer wire pens that fold up for storage. I also use exercise pens for floor time, and as a safe space when I take the guinea pigs outside to nibble on grass. For training, exercise pens are useful to separate pigs for short, one on one training sessions, especially if your guinea pigs don't like to be separated. Exercise pens allow the piggies to still see and sniff their buddy on the other side, so they're less likely to be concerned about not having their cagemate with them.
Ex-pens are also useful for floor time. You can set them up in a circle and put the guinea pigs inside to run around, or you can let the piggies roam free in a room and just use the fence to block off furniture or other things they could chew or hide under.
Another thing I use exercise pens for is a temporary cage for new guinea pigs. I can set up the pen right beside the guinea pigs' cage so the existing pigs can get to know the newcomer before being formally introduced. Ex-pens are also big enough for you to sit inside and bond with the new piggy without even needing to take them out of their cage.
Ex-pens are also useful for floor time. You can set them up in a circle and put the guinea pigs inside to run around, or you can let the piggies roam free in a room and just use the fence to block off furniture or other things they could chew or hide under.
Another thing I use exercise pens for is a temporary cage for new guinea pigs. I can set up the pen right beside the guinea pigs' cage so the existing pigs can get to know the newcomer before being formally introduced. Ex-pens are also big enough for you to sit inside and bond with the new piggy without even needing to take them out of their cage.
Clickers
I don't use clickers very often with my piggies, but for those that want to use them, I highly suggest you use the quietest type of clicker you can find. You can find quieter than average clickers online, and if your piggy is still spooked by the noise, muffle the clicker in your sleeve or pocket at first. In the past, I've also used a heavy style of pen with a louder than average clicking noise when you press it, and that seemed to have the right level of volume for guinea pigs.
My Favorite General Guinea Pig Items
Waterproof Floor Time Mats
Waterproof mats are great for floor time and anywhere else you want to protect your floor from piggy messes. They're easy to shake off and clean, and machine washable as well. My favorite mats for the guinea pigs are splat mats made for kids. I own several of them, and also use them in the guinea pig cages. The ones I have in the guinea pig cages do get stained when they're used heavily, but they don't ever let any urine seep through, which is awesome.
XL Litter Trays
I have used all kinds of litter trays for guinea pigs, but these extra large litter trays are definitely the best I have found. They're called Puppy Go Here litter pans, and they're meant for litter box training puppies and small dogs. These trays are pretty big (I use the 24" x 20" size) so I wouldn't buy them if you have a smallish cage. For those that have a Midwest or C&C cage though, they are absolutely worth it. I use them as a litter box/hay box combo, and it helps keep the hay contained in one place. The walls of the litter box are also low enough that I can hang their water bottle in the litter box, so it catches all the drips from the bottle. Using these litter boxes has cut down my cage cleaning time significantly.
Wire Grids
Wire grids are often used to build C&C cages for guinea pigs. I used them to build my new guinea pig cages, and they worked great! Wire grids are perfect to use because you can zip tie them together in nearly any shape or configuration you can think of to fit your space.
Another thing you can use them for is making your own guinea pig exercise pen. Simply zip tie a bunch of grids together and you have an ex-pen! This is often a bit cheaper than buying a dog ex-pen, and you can add as many grids as you want to make the ex-pen bigger. It also folds up in a fan just like a regular ex-pen for storage.
When choosing your wire grids, make sure you choose grids that have 9 squares across, like the Amazon Basics grids or Whitmor brand Storage Cubes. Some grids have bigger holes that guinea pigs could get their head stuck in, so you want to avoid those.
Another thing you can use them for is making your own guinea pig exercise pen. Simply zip tie a bunch of grids together and you have an ex-pen! This is often a bit cheaper than buying a dog ex-pen, and you can add as many grids as you want to make the ex-pen bigger. It also folds up in a fan just like a regular ex-pen for storage.
When choosing your wire grids, make sure you choose grids that have 9 squares across, like the Amazon Basics grids or Whitmor brand Storage Cubes. Some grids have bigger holes that guinea pigs could get their head stuck in, so you want to avoid those.
Mini Broom and Dustpan
A mini handheld broom and dustpan is invaluable with guinea pigs. As anyone with a guinea pig would know, guinea pigs poop constantly. Having a little "poop broom" nearby makes it so much easier to tidy up their cage a bit throughout the day or catch stray pieces outside of the cage.
Favorite Treats and Toys!
The final section on this page is a list compiled by my guinea pigs. The following treats and toys are all the things that my guinea pigs go crazy for! They're a little bit spoiled haha.
Treats
Simple Rewards Oxbow Baked Cookies
Oxbow has a brand of treats that come in a few different flavors. They particularly love the baked cookies made in the shape of a heart. Most of my guinea pigs seem to love the Barley Biscuits flavor the most, followed by the Veggie Treats, Bell Pepper biscuits, and Apple & Banana. I'm crossing my fingers that Oxbow decides to bring out a carrot flavor someday. Carrots are my guinea pigs' top favorite veggie and I have a feeling they would absolutely love it in cookie form!
Oxbow Supplement Tabs
These are kind of a health item, but my guinea pigs seem to think of them more as treats. Most of my pigs get the vitamin C tabs in the orange package, but I've also given my older guys the joint support supplements. It's hard to say whether they make a big difference health wise, but I did notice a slight improvement with the joint tabs. Regardless, the guinea pigs certainly love them, and it's great to have a healthy treat to give them with some potential added health benefits.
Toys and Chew Items
Timothy Hay Tunnel
I've never met a guinea pig that hasn't been drawn to timothy hay tunnels. These tunnels basically combine a guinea pig's two favorite things; eating/chewing and hiding. Guinea pigs also love to explore and seem to really love running through tunnels. Hay tunnels are a bit more expensive than other types of hay woven toys, but they're more interactive for the guinea pig and hold up to chewing much longer than the smaller toys.
Timothy Hay Mat
Timothy hay mats are another great chew item for guinea pigs. These can be placed on the floor or hung up on the side of the cage with twist ties or zip ties. If you place these on the ground, I highly suggest not putting it in a high traffic corner where it's likely to be peed or pooped on. Once the mat gets soiled, most guinea pigs lose interest in chewing on it. Tying it on the cage is a good alternative to keep it clean and make it last longer. It also encourages the guinea pigs to stretch and get a bit of exercise by reaching up to chew the mat.
